Houthi security personnel stand guard during a demonstration in Sanaa, Yemen. Yemen's Houthi rebels have written to the European Union to say European ships in the Red Sea are not their target, even as the group works to tighten its hold on the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Two diplomats briefed on the matter told the Financial Times that the Houthis sent the letter this month to the EU's foreign and security policy arm. In it, the group tried to reassure Europeans that its offensive along Yemen's southern coast is not meant to disrupt international shipping and would not affect free passage through the Bab al-Mandeb. The Houthis restarted their long-running fight with Saudi Arabia in July, declaring a blockade on the kingdom's ports and attacking tankers. The letter to the EU appears aimed at framing that conflict as limited to Saudi Arabia, not as a wider campaign against global shipping. The timing stands out. Container shipping companies have been running more services through the Suez Canal, and traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, has reached its highest levels in almost three years. "They don't want us to go after them," Trump said. "They're letting most ships go through. There's just one country that they're not too happy with, and we'll get that straightened out." The US has turned down Saudi requests to join its campaign against the Houthis directly, though it and other countries are offering defensive help. French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France would send troops and defense systems to protect Saudi Arabia's Yanbu port, home to key oil infrastructure. "We are going to send military resources, that is to say, soldiers, radar systems and defence systems, to protect this site," he told French media, adding that the move is "not to get us involved in any conflicts." UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said this week that Britain would send a Royal Air Force Voyager refueling aircraft to Saudi Arabia to provide defensive air-to-air refueling. Sagar is a journalist with an interest primarily in geopolitics and American domestic politics. Before joining Times Now, he wrote for Republic and Sw... View More